How To Fix the Secret Service

Julia Pierson, director of the U.S. Secret Service, is grilled by members of congress during a Hearing by the House Oversight Committee on the flaws and errors by the U.S. Secret Service in protecting the White House held at the Rayburn House Office Building on Tuesday, September 30 , 2014, in Washington, DC.

Ronald Kessler is the author of The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents.

If you are wondering how the Secret Service became such a tarnished agency, look back to 2003 when it became part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Forced to compete for funds with 21 other national security agencies in a department of 240,000 employees, the Secret Service, which previously was under the Treasury Department, became more political and compliant. Mark Sullivan, appointed director by President George W. Bush in 2006, proudly proclaimed that the Secret Service “makes do with less.”

Over time, corner cutting and laxness became more prevalent, while the agency became more arrogant. As revealed in my book The First Family Detail, it became commonplace for Secret Service management to order agents to let people into events without magnetometer or metal detection screening to curry favor with White House or campaign staffs impatient with long lines. Uniformed officers such as those who let Michaele and Tareq Salahi and a third intruder, Carlos Allen, into a state dinner at the White House in 2009 became convinced that Secret Service management would not back them if they turned away party crashers at the White House gate.

Agents who called attention to deficiencies or potential threats were punished, never to be promoted. Those who went along with such outrageous White House requests as turning off alarms and who perpetuated the myth that the Secret Service is invincible were promoted and given bonuses.

Reflecting that preoccupation with image, just after replacing Sullivan as director, Julia Pierson, his chief of staff for five years, sent an email to all agents reminding them to maintain a “professional appearance.” Tattoos should not be visible, and facial hair must be short and “neatly groomed,” she instructed. The FBI under J. Edgar Hoover reflected the same obsession with outward appearance, helping to conceal the bureau’s many flaws.

The Secret Service’s annual budget is $1.5 billion — about the cost of one B-2 stealth bomber. Besides its protective duties, the agency investigates counterfeiting and financial crimes. Given the importance of the presidency, doubling the budget would be money well spent. But rather than request substantially more funds, the Secret Service assures President Obama and members of Congress that the agency is fulfilling its job with the modest increases it requests. Pierson even proposed a decrease in funding.

Meanwhile, the agency takes on more duties, and sleep-deprived agents often work almost around the clock. Citing cost, the Secret Service has refused to update with the latest technology its devices at the White House for detecting intruders and weapons of mass destruction. Yet scrimping on protection of the president, the vice president and presidential candidates risks an assassination that would undermine American democracy.

Congress has also been derelict in its duty. When it comes to selecting a Secret Service director, Congress has never demanded accountability by requiring Senate confirmation.

The list of appointments that do require Senate confirmation is long and the positions often obscure. Not only the head of the U.S. Marshals Service requires Senate confirmation but also 94 marshals positions, one in each judicial district. Besides the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, the director of the Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime requires confirmation. So does the librarian of Congress and the deputy director for demand reduction of the so-called drug czar. The Secret Service director is missing from this list.

Yet along with the FBI, whose director does require confirmation, the Secret Service is the paramount agency responsible for protecting American democracy. And given its powers, the service’s potential for engaging in abuses is almost as great as the FBI’s.

Since Pierson’s resignation, we have heard proposals to transform the Secret Service into an as-yet-undefined new agency, move it to another department such as the Justice Department, or even place it under the military. These are foolish ideas. If a corporation is performing poorly, the CEO is replaced with an outsider who can shake up the company and change the culture.

The same solution applies to the Secret Service. As FBI director, Robert S. Mueller III removed anyone who did not tell him an honest story. The FBI performed magnificently under his management, protecting us since 9/11 from foreign terrorist attacks.

As Mueller’s successor, President Obama made an excellent choice in naming James Comey, who previously served in the Justice Department. Given that his own life is at stake, I believe Obama can be counted on to select a similarly outstanding candidate to be the new Secret Service director.

Ronald Kessler, a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal investigative reporter, is the author of The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents.

PHOTOS: Go Behind the Scenes with Joe Clancy, the New Director of the Secret Service

Clancy, left, crosses Pennsylvania Avenue with President Barack Obama, and Obama's aide Reggie Love, rear, while walking back to the White House in Washington D.C., on March 1, 2010.

Charles Dharapak—AP

Clancy holds the door for Barack Obama as the President departs Andrews Air Force Base in Md. on Feb. 12, 2009.

Blink and you might miss him, but here's Clancy again, flanking President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as they wave to crowds along the inaugural parade route in Washington D.C. on Jan. 20, 2009.

Charles Dharapak—AP

Clancy is seen speaking over the radio into his palm mic as he glances in the camera's direction as President Barack Obama and his family walk back to the White House after attending St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington D.C. on Oct. 11, 2009.

Susan Walsh—AP

Clancy braves the rain as umbrella-carrying President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron walk from Marine One in Toronto, after their flight from the G8 Summit to the G20 Summit on June 26, 2010.

Jason Reed—Reuters

Clancy blends in on stage as Obama speaks at the Arizona State University commencement ceremony at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. on May 13, 2009.

Brooks Kraft—Corbis

Solar panels make good camouflage as Clancy and another Secret Service agent accompany the President and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, on May 27, 2009.

Brooks Kraft—Corbis

President Barack Obama jogs up the steps to speak at a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee and Sen. Barbara Boxer, with Clancy watching closely from the wings, at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, April 19, 2010.

Alex Brandon—AP

Eyeing those extended arms warily, Clancy keeps hold on President Barack Obama as he shakes hands with people outside of the Top Pot Doughnuts shop in Seattle on Oct. 21, 2010.

Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images

Clancy in the foreground, as Obama is reflected in a garage window in a backyard at the Weithman family home on Aug 18, 2010 in Columbus, Ohio.

Mike Munden—Getty Images

Clancy scans the crowd seated just behind Obama and former President Bill Clinton as the two talk at a memorial service for Sen. Robert Byrd on July 2, 2010, at the Capitol in Charleston, WV.

Charles Dharapak—AP

President Barack Obama holds hands with daughter Sasha as they walk away from Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington D.C. after arriving home from their vacation in Hawaii, with Clancy facing outward nearby, on Jan. 4, 2010.

Lawrence Jackson—The White House

With hands folded, Clancy watches the press watching President Barack Obama wave as he arrives at the White House in Washington D.C. on Oct. 15, 2010.

Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images

President Barack Obama meets with NCTC Director Michael Leiter, center right, leadership and analysts in the Secure Video Teleconference Room at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va, on Oct. 6, 2009.

Samantha Appleton—The White House

National Security Advisor General James Jones, left, and Clancy coordinate arrival details by telephone for President Barack Obama's visit to Baghdad on April 7, 2009.

Pete Souza—The White House

A flood of bright lights fall on Clancy and other agents as the President waves to press watching the arrival of Air Force One in Springfield, Ill. on Feb. 12, 2009.

Brooks Kraft—Corbis

Clancy has President Barack Obama's back during a frenzied meet-and-greet with the audience after speaking about health care reform at the Patriot Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. on March 19, 2010.

Charles Dharapak—AP

Clancy stands watch as the President boards Air Force One at Buckley Air Force Base in Denver, Colo., en route to Las Vegas, Nev. on Feb. 18, 2010.

Pete Souza—The White House

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